I didn’t have a name picked out for my Dolly before I got her. I knew I was going to get a female Golden Retriever (from a breeder - sorry!) I found an ad for a litter about 45 mins away, so my mom and I discussed names on our way to get her.
I wanted something like Pixel or Giga (I work in IT) but mom said no (I was about 23 at the time!) Dolly was mentioned along the way, since my parents had recently visited Dollywood.
Anyway, when we got there and picked her out, the breeders said she had been named “Dolly” because she was quite blonde and she “sings” when she yawns. That sounded good to me so we kept it.
Turns out that my Dolly is not only a blonde that (still) sings, she also is busty with a small waist! She gains all of her weight in her chest, and her tummy stays small. In fact right now she’s overweight by about 10# and her tummy looks like the “normal” tummy in the “is your dog overweight?” poster.
So, just like her namesake, she turned out to have a slight waist and a big chest!
We had five betta fish at one time: Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D’Artagnan and Lucky. D’Artagnan was bought from Kroger in Louisville, KY. He made the 600 mile move with us back to Mississippi, and he had just turned 5 years old when he died. The kids had us sing happy birthday to him on his fifth birthday.
Athos, Porthos and Aramis were bought together at PetSmart. Athos and Porthos were going to belong to our kids: Aramis was going to be my work fish. D’Artagnan was my home fish. After we bought those three, we saw a large fish tank with a shot glass in the middle: if you could get a quarter in the shot glass, you won a fish. Well, our darling daughter, who was about 6 at the time, hit the shot glass. So we went home with four fish instead of three. Sadly, the longest survivor of that group lasted three months.
My dog, Daisy, was named at the shelter. Since my IRL last name is May, I thought that having a Daisy May dog was pretty cool.
One cat is named Butterfly because she’s a multicolored calico. The other cat, a large orange tabby is named Tigger although I usually just call her Stupid because she is without a doubt the dumbest cat I’ve ever seen. We had a black cat that would follow me around everywhere like a dog. His name was Footsteps. I really loved him even though I’m not a cat person.
D and I had a Belgian Tervuren named D’Artagnan back in the 80’s - we called him “Dart” for short. We also had a plecostomus who cleaned the inside of the aquarium walls for us. His name was Barnacle Bill.
In a pet naming thread several years ago a Doper mentioned that he liked to choose a name and then assign a military rank. Mr. Ko and I liked that idea. Our new pound puppy’s rank reflects his general comportment, but it takes several days in a row of outstanding conduct for promotion (he did make it, briefly, all the way up to Sergeant).
Pictures #6 and #8 of Blaze are my favorites, Dolores. #2 tugged at my heart real good.
You have quite a menagerie, there, my friend. All of them very beautiful. I was sorry to read of your having to put down, Blaze. Been through it as well and had them go to sleep with my head next to theirs. Jesus, that’s painful! I can get choked up even now.
Thanks and best of luck in your upcoming competition!
I have often wondered how animals of a different breed can co-exist in one’s infancy stage and the mother not refuse to nourish or nurture, Annie. Puppy-Cat seems like a fitting name for your Siamese, too bad he doesn’t bark, or does he?
Wow! Another menagerie! Who takes care of all of them when you and your husband go on your trips and do you find as I do, that Maine Coons are the lovingest cats? Mine has no problems being picked up and loves to snuggle up to both D and me. Never had a cat like him, a.
I am finding that y’all are as clever with your pets’ names as you are with your own Dope names.
Other names we have for Bert are: Boo-Boo and Mr. Bert (D’s names) and Ice Cream Nose (he has a litle orange spot on his nose) and Mr. Drooly-Mouth, although he doesn’t drool nearly as much as when we first got him.
Lucy: How could you NOT like a cutie with ears like that?
Bluebelle: You know, it’s been my experience that people generally just don’t adopt older cats or dogs, because they fear the vet bills and that’s a shame. Just like us, we need companionship and too many pets die in shelters because of this.
She looks like a big ol’ ball of fluff and very loving. Not quite a “kitler”, but close. Very pretty kitty, Inter Alia!
My favorite pet name came from a lop-eared rabbit in my brother’s household. As a small child, Terry had always called his baby blanket a “mugget” so that the bunny was baptized “Mugget.”
We named our AKC Beagle “Princess Juliet of Midvale”, Julie for short. We had a mixed breed named “Dutchess”. I guess my parents had a fixation on royalty.
We had a white rabbit named “Whitey”. Yeah, a lot of imagination in our family.
